August 7, 2018

Q. You just won your first title, 20 in the world, your best ranking, and you won today. How are you feeling?
MIHAELA BUZARNESCU: Was a tough day for me. Also yesterday I was on the road, on Sunday night. I arrived yesterday here. I didn't practice at all. I had a warmup before my match. I was feeling a bit jetlag. The time difference, it's three hours.

I'm really happy I was able to win today. Not easy at all. She's a great player. She won a WTA two weeks ago. It was a tough match.

Q. Where do you think the energy came from today? The adrenaline and momentum? How are you feeling physically and mentally?
MIHAELA BUZARNESCU: You can feel a bit of tiredness. It's normal. But I'm recovering pretty well. I had a little bit of down in the second set, but then I was able to come back.

It's normal for any players to have some ups and downs. But energy just comes from the fact that I'm really trying my best on the court. I just want to play my game and play good. I think I find something in my body that just wishes a lot, then yeah, I'm playing better and better.

Q. Six Romanians in the main draw here. Can you explain that? What's happening with tennis in Romania now?
MIHAELA BUZARNESCU: We've always been really good in the girls level since we were young. My generation, I remember from the juniors, we were so many in the top. It shows that we are very good athletes and fighters. That's really good that we are more and more on the main draw.

I really hope the other girls which are from 100 to top 100, we have five more, will also come into the top 100 so we can make more than 10 into main draw event.

Q. In Romania, you don't have any support from the federation. How do you explain you're able to have six players in the top 100?
MIHAELA BUZARNESCU: It's really individual how we are in our country, the way we practice and everything. We only get free courts at the federation. That's our support. Everyone has his own coach, own team. It's been like that since I know myself, since I'm practicing there. We got used to like that.

I guess if it will change for us, we'll be like, Whoa. Any time in the future, I don't know when, it's really tough. It's a big difference from other countries where they get so much support by the federation.

We try our best. Until now I think it works really well for all.

Q. I saw last time you had a couple of injuries in a row you decided to do a Ph.D. What was your thought process?
MIHAELA BUZARNESCU: I always continued my studies after finishing high school. I did my masters degree, then I got injured. When I did second surgery, I saw everything was really bad, I didn't know that I could be able to play tennis again because I had a pain on my knee over and over.

Q. (No microphone.)
MIHAELA BUZARNESCU: You had to go in the university.

Q. What did the studies part bring to your life outside of tennis or your tennis career you could maybe not find on the WTA Tour?
MIHAELA BUZARNESCU: My studies were in sport. I finished sports university, then sports management and marketing. The Ph.D. was in sports science. I think it showed me and it learned me how to get more mature, how to see a bit different the world and also the tennis game, how to help people.

I think that helped a lot. It could also help me outside sport, as well.

Q. Do you think it should be more encouraged on the WTA Tour for athletes to think about their future, do studies at the same time?
MIHAELA BUZARNESCU: To be honest, yes. I know it's really hard because it's so difficult to play a professional sport and also go to school. In other countries, it's much easier because you can have it by distance on the computer. You don't need to go. I think it's really important because most players, they only finished high school or they didn't finish their university. I think it learns you a lot of things. It opens up your mind.

For me, I think you can be smarter, not in a smarter way, but just to know how to deal with a lot of stuff in your life.

Q. You play Svitolina next. You beat her on clay, grass. This is the first time on hard courts. What are your thoughts?
MIHAELA BUZARNESCU: I just found out few minutes ago I'm playing against her. Yeah, well, it's another match against another player. Any of us can win. She's a great player. It's another surface, but I'm just going to try to play my own game and just see how it's going to be.

I know I won the last two times, but that doesn't mean anything. As everybody knows in tennis, you can win 10 times then lose 10 times against the same player. I guess everybody has its own chance. I'm going to go on the court and do my best.